Multi language library

My language skills are really being put to the test here, and I must admit I feel bad that my French has deteriorated so much. I'm having to stretch my mind to remember the most basic of phrases. Shame on me! 

It's made me think, I wonder if anyone else has a similar problem - multiple languages spoken in their school and needing to communicate with children in their native language. I could really do with some 'library phrases' in French, German and Chinese to help me along!

Anyone know of such a thing? If not, I may have to start compiling a phrase book myself!

My first week

I'm nearing the end of my first week with the kids and it's been quite a time so far. I've done some induction sessions, supervised at lunch, and done mountains of shelving. The kids are stupendous and such a riot. 

The kids have very beautiful and inventive names. I'm never sure how to spell any of them as they usually differ from the English norm. It's lovely because it makes them all very unique. My hearing is definitely being put to the test because with no library cards to scan I have to rely on them telling me how to spell their names and that I hear it correctly. With three main languages as well as English being spoken at our school (French, German and Chinese), I have to contend with different accents too. I think I'll end up collapsing tomorrow evening!

I have one boy who's name I won't forget because he comes in every day and says, "Hi, I'm Ewan, from the other day. Can I take this book out please?". He's just adorable. 

I'd forgotten how much exercise you get working in a library; how much your arms, legs and neck ache at the end of the day. My feet have been suffering too. But it's all worth it. I haven't been this happy at work in years. I feel very privileged to be working not only with such lovely children but also wonderful colleagues who have made me feel so welcome. 

Starting over

I have been blessed this year with being offered the chance to run the primary library at a fantastic international school in Asia. This is my first week on the job and so far it's been terrifying, exciting, frustrating and bewildering. Pretty much what I expected really. I'm lucky that our school starts back a week before the kids do, so I've had some time to get acquainted with everything (and everyone) before the madness starts. 

I must admit that my confidence levels are not terribly high at the moment, as I am not by experience a primary librarian. My forte is the 16-22 age group of sixth formers and university students. However, having said that, I've seen how much my mum loves working with middle school aged kids and been envious of the fun she has with them. There is no doubt that this is going to be a hard job, but I'm looking forward to spending time with kids who love to read, and in an environment that is truly wonderful. I don't like to brag but my library is awesome! It's beautiful - bright, spacious and full of life. And that's how I want to be. I've missed being a librarian. I spent the last year working as an SEN TA, which was a great experience. I loved my kids and I will miss them terribly, but there is something about libraries that I just can't escape. It's in my blood and not being in one every day was somewhat soul destroying. 

I've been blessed as well with a lovely colleague who has been teaching me the ropes and helping me to get organised. I know I'll learn a lot from her and hopefully I can get to grips with everything as quickly as possible. 

Anyway, I decided to start up my blog again as I found it really therapeutic last time. It gave me a place to talk about the stuff I was learning and going through. Hopefully it was informative to those who read it and it will be again. 

So, if you're joining my again after my hiatus - welcome back! If you're new, hello :) I hope you enjoy this blog and find what I have to say of some interest. 

Well that's it for now. I shall see you all a bit later!

Five months in

I'm five months into my new job as a Primary Librarian and so far so good. I'd forgotten how manic it can be and how you bounce from one thing to another all day long. At the end of last week (first week back after the Christmas break), I was left with a list I had made at the start of the week. I'd managed to accomplish one task. Now this is not down to being disorganized but simply not having the time to do anything other than issue/return books and keep the place in order. Thankfully, things have calmed down a bit now so I'm back on track.

I've been reminded in the last month how lucky I am to be a librarian. My students are a constant source of joy.

Twitter - How much is too much?

I have been a member of the Twitter world since the 23rd of April 2010. I was introduced to Twitter by Phil Bradley on a course about Web 2.0. At first it took me a while to get to grips with it and I just dipped in and out occassionally. Eventually I found time one afternoon and I started to play around with it. I found a few people to 'follow', who then kindly 'followed' me. All very nice and civilised. I chose to take Phil's advice about only following people who were going to give me the best information. It took a while to identify who they were, but it was a fun process and eventually I was following about 30 people from various areas of my field. I'd found some interesting people and the information I was getting was fantastic. I was chasing up leads on news stories, discovering new resources and getting involved in the campaigns to Save Libraries.


But that's where it all started to go a bit wrong. I found myself checking twitter when I woke up in the morning. I'd get to work and check Twitter. I'd check it during my tea break, at lunch time, during my afternoon break, on the bus going home, after dinner, at the gym, while looking after my nephews, as I talked to my friends. I started to get anxious if I hadn't checked it. What was I missing? Perhaps someone had tweeted something important but it would get bogged down in my Timeline and disappear forever without me seeing it. It was ok with most people I followed who only tweeted a few times a day but some of the people I was following were tweeting information every half hour on the hour every day. And not rubbish either. I was beginning to lose my grip on reality. Finally I just couldn't take it anymore and I decided that I just had to abandon Twitter. This abrupt disconnection from the information world was very disconcerting but I had no choice. Twitter was turning me into a nervous wreck!


This all got me thinking (something I now had time for!) and I began to wonder, just how much is too much Twitter? As I mentioned before some of the people I follow tweet a CRAZY amount of stuff and from what I can tell it's all pretty good. What I couldn't figure out was where they found the time to get all this info and then tweet about it and how did they expect their followers to keep up with so many updates. Also, when tweeting, how much do they really think about the people who are following them?


At this point in time I've still not been able to fully allow Twitter back into my life. Maybe some day I will again find the time to look at it and reassess my information priorities.

Funny Stories from the Library 1

We have a lovely student who has taken out at least one book every day since the start of the school year in September. Sometimes she’ll take a book out during morning break (10.45am) and bring it back at lunch (1pm) having finished it. For Christmas her parents bought her a Kindle. When the staff in our library saw her carrying it we thought - well that’s it. She won’t be taking any books out now.

One day she came up to the desk to check out a book and I said to her, “I was worried when I saw you with your Kindle that you wouldn’t be taking out books anymore.” She replied, “Oh no. I love books! I’m not even very fond of my Kindle it’s just that it’s so much easier to read from when you’re knitting! I can’t hold a book and knit at the same time. The Kindle stays nice and flat on my lap.” I tried desperately not to giggle and agreed that yes a Kindle would be far easier to read from when trying to knit. Never have I come across such a sweet and strange 16 year old girl.

(Incidentally the item she was knitting turned out to be a waistcoat in various shades of green!)

Adult Literacy - Where are the books?

I've really been struggling to find books for our adult learners who have a reading age of 5-8 years. They are only just beginning to read and there doesn't seem to be anything on the market that appeals to an adult reader in terms of content but is simple enough that they can actually read it. Am I missing something? Why has no one really produced any books of this nature? Surely there are people all around the world who need such books. Adults learning English for the first time, people who dropped out of school and never learnt, teens who were slow to get started. It seems obvious and yet here I am desperately searching and finding nothing. I did have some hope today when I met a rep from Ransom Books. She showed me some of the things that they were publishing and it's the first time I've even come close to finding anything that might suit. The best fit seems to be Dark Man which is aimed at teens/young adults.

Surely I can't be the only one experiencing this problem! What are other people using?

My notes from ALA 2011

American Library Association Annual Conference 2011

Sessions attended:

1. Behaviour issues in Libraries

2. Cutting Edge Technology Services

3. From Gutenberg to Google and Globs, from Books to Vooks

4. Pecha Kucha

5. Promoting Ethical Literacy in Youth: Good Kids Tough Choices

6. Autism from the Inside Out: A Look at Autism from a Medical Perspective

7. Wikipedia

8. Do K-12 Libraries Need Books? (What kind of books does your Library need?)

I also attended two talks, one given by Dan Savage about the project ‘It Gets Better’ and the other given by Daniel Ellsberg, the man responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers.

Summary of information gathered at each session

1. Behaviour issues in Libraries:
This session mainly focused on Public Libraries however it gave me some insights into how to deal with issues that cross over into School Library work. The most important discussion points were about dealing with patrons, specifically those with various special needs.

Points made were:

- Use the term Suspension not ‘Ban’, as it is less severe.

- Suggest that users can ‘earn points’ to decrease Library fines or to reduce their suspension period.

- Be consistent with your behaviour towards users – be ROCK Stars – Responsive, Open, Courteous, Knowledgeable, Stars – Strive to be the best.

- Be part of the environment, not removed from it.

- Clearly articulate the Rules and Regulations – show that you can be consistent with enforcement. Make sure that the consequences of breaking the rules are clearly laid out with the Rules and Regs.

- Make detailed incident reports when problems occur – so you can learn from mistakes made and replicate good practice.

- Have a clear process for Suspensions/Banning of users

- Create a staff Wiki with articles to help staff deal with problems but also other documents for Professional Development.

- Create Community Partnerships – ex. With the local public library

- Do role playing exercises in staff meetings related to real incidents that staff have experienced. This gives everyone a chance to learn from each other.

- When dealing with difficult users:

a) Tell a colleague that you are about to speak to them

b) Stay calm

c) Do not accuse but be firm

d) Realise that not all incidents resolve themselves well

e) Keep your distance from the user.

- When dealing with users:

a) Don’t make assumptions

b) Be sensitive to everyone

c) Avoid stereotyping

d) Avoid your paternalistic impulses

e) Do not finish people’s sentences

f) Be patient

g) Respect personal space

h) Provide support and assistance where needed and asked

i) Don’t be judgemental

- When dealing with users with mental illnesses like schizophrenia it is important to remember that they respond to internal stimuli and are sensitive to non-verbal cues. It takes mentally ill people more time to process information. Their medication can influence the time it takes them to process information and respond to you. If you are in doubt about how to deal with people with mental health issues contact local support workers.

- When dealing with people who are on the autism spectrum, it is important to make connections with them from the start. Realise that they can have difficulties with non-verbal/body language so you need to be clear and direct when you speak to them. They can be sensitive to sound. It is important to: Smile, speak calmly, answer questions as directly as possible (yes or no answers are often best).

2. Cutting Edge Technology Services
This session involved three different speakers:

Kristin Autelman from North Carolina State University talking about the redesign of the University Library’s webpages (section entitled Web Redesign: Strategies for Success)

The NC State Uni Library decided that the Library website was over complex with its 27 sub sites. In order to create a new site they decided that they needed to:

a) Articulate their goals as a whole group/organisation.

b) Make it fresh, modern and appealing – they needed to create and cultivate their brand.

c) It needed to reflect their staff and the Library as a whole

d) Access needed to be streamlined and flexible, with clear labelling and as few distractions as possible.

e) The user experience needed to be at the forefront. User feedback key to the whole process.

f) The work to create it needed to be done in house to ensure that it was done properly and with the Library and users always in mind.

John Davison, Assistant Director of Library Services (section entitled: Necessity is the Mother of Cloud Computing)

John Davison talked about how his Library had found it necessary to go to Cloud Computing in order to achieve their goals in creating a participatory Library. This meant that his and other Libraries in his state could share a state wide platform that was built on open access software. This allowed them to cut down on costs (a fraction of the cost of other IT services) and ensure that disparate staff and students could all contribute easily.

They created a collaborative repository of information that was flexible and fluid. It would be able to embed itself in student’s lives and create ownership of learning.

Dr Henry Jenkins (section entitled: Confronting the Challenges of Participation)

Dr Jenkins' talk centred on the challenges of participation. He said that it was important for members/users to know that their contributions mattered otherwise they would be unlikely to participate. He talked about various ways of engaging students and staff with participatory technology.

Examples include:

- Getting students to create their own YouTube videos on how to use Library facilities/technology

- Using blogging sites like Wordpress for students to discuss projects, Tumblr to produce and share content, Netvibes for project platforms, Symbaloo to create content and various other sites like Prezi, Animoto and Wordle.

- Create mobile Library Guides/Apps for Library Services and Subscriptions

- Use Skype for author talks

- Share the minutes of meetings online

3. From Gutenberg to Google and Globs, from Books to Vooks

This session centred on the issues surrounding e-books.

One of the speakers, Angela Corstensen, spoke about how she no longer buys reference books if they are available as e-books. She puts links to them on the catalogue and on Moodle. She says that if it’s not intuitive then we haven’t got the time. She is using e-books from EBSCO which have apps and downloadable content. For recreational reading she recommends, Overdrive (which Surrey Library has), 3M Cloud Library, Baker and Taylor and EBSCO. For free books, Google Books for which there is an App for iPod and iPad. Also Bluefine Reader which is an Adobe product.

One of the other discussions centred on the issue of e-book formats. The Librarians agreed that there were far too many formats available which made purchasing difficult if your PCs/tablets/e-book readers only accept one or two of them. Libraries need to ensure that their resources are available on as many platforms as possible so that people are not excluded from viewing them.

It was also agreed that e-books give the reader a very different experience to that of a paperback. They are multisensory providing videos, sound/music and other graphics that paperbacks do not (of course!). One of the big issues in terms of cataloguing e-books relates to all of the content that they contain. How, as a cataloguer, do you describe all the content so that people can find what they are looking for?

E-book readers are not cheap. This leads to issues of how many, from who and how often do you need to upgrade? What happens if a user loses one or breaks it? The cost is much greater than the replacement of a paperback or textbook.

The other problem is what happens if you lose electricity or do not have access to a PC/tablet? What about capped data usage for your users at home which may prevent them from downloading the e-books that they need?

Suppliers: Often the E-reader you buy limits who you can purchase from. Ex. If you buy a Kindle you can only purchase from Amazon. This means that you may not always be able to get the cheapest e-books/best deals.

Is Print outmoded?

No.

Would you still buy print?

Yes because it’s good for Reader Advisory, patrons often choose books based on the cover art or discover a book that perhaps would have overlooked otherwise by looking at its blurb and reading inside. Also it’s easier to assess the length with a print book than with an e-book.

E-reading is not good for immersive reading. The additional content can be distracting and people read differently on a screen (more often they only skim read).

4. Pecha KuchaPecha Kucha is a presentation methodology in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each resulting in a presentation that lasts a maximum of 2 minutes.

This session involved various speakers using the Pecha Kucha technique to discuss different library related topics to enlighten the listeners about them but also to demonstrate the method of Pecha Kucha.

The presentations were about:

What is Pecha Kucha?

Video Games in Libraries – how having video games in libraries can attract those who wouldn’t normally come in and how learning can happen outside of books.

How can Teen Libraries use Social Media? – how to encourage teens to use the library by engaging them through social media (ex. Facebook, YouTube etc).

Geocaching – how to use geocaching for Library inductions

Reputation Management – how to manage our reputations online. Who is looking? University Admissions staff, Insurance companies, potential employers. There is a huge amount of pressure to share in this digital society. It’s always good to follow the Grandma Rule. If you don’t want your grandmother to see it then don’t put it online.

Digital Literacy – Adults assume that teens are digitally literate when in reality they may not be. Teens think that they know or understand how things work online when really they don’t.

QR codes – What they are, how to use them and what they are good for.

5. Promoting Ethical Literacy in Youth: Good Kids, Tough ChoicesThis session discussed the issues surrounding ethical literacy in youth.

Speakers: Nancy Zimmer and Dr. Michael Zimmerman

Nancy Zimmer:

Cheating is seen as normal to most kids/teens. They don’t understand why it is a problem. Celebrities (who are seen as role models) often lead unethical lives or extol inappropriate values.

Parents want to raise kids who have good values and character. They want them to have moral courage – honesty, compassion, sense of responsibility, fairness and respect.

What should we do? We should ensure that they are using the right “lenses” to see the World and that they can have the courage to figure out and know what’s right, make tough choices and stand their decisions.

The 15-18 age group is the time when this is most important to instill this in them.

Dr. Zimmerman:

Teens/Youths face many ethical dilemmas, for example cheating, gossiping, stealing and bullying. These are common dilemmas for all ages but crucial issues for teens as choices involving these issues can greatly affect their lives (example: being suspended/excluded from school, being sent to prison or having to do community service if they make the wrong choices).

But what happens when you introduce technology to these dilemmas?

Assignment shortcuts:

Students are faced with easy options like Sparknotes/Wikipedia, Essays for Sale and Cut and Paste options for completing assignments. The ethical concerns related to this are plagiarism and responsibility and truth and bias of the information they are using. Students don’t understand why they can’t use someone else’s work without using proper citation.

Bullying:

It’s easier to engage in bullying online because it can be anonymous and you can say online what you wouldn’t normally say face to face because of the consequences. There can be no escape of the person being bullied because the bullying is coming from everywhere.

Rumor and Gossip:

Online rumors are in the public domain and can be almost impossible to take back. Even though things can be deleted they’ve already been seen and can be copied and redistributed very easily. Even if what’s said is the truth, some truths are not meant to be shared and people can lose control of their own lives.

Content Stealing:

Involving illegal file sharing, copyright infringement, password sharing (to access subscription only content).

Online Sexual Interactions:

Webcams and sexting, online predators, pornography.

How can Libraries help to address these problems?

Create (or use one that already exists – like the one provided by the American Association of School Libraries) a Literacy Standard. Teach/instruct teens/youths about how to think critically, inquire and gain knowledge as well as how to share knowledge with others and participate ethically. Create respect for authors by discussing citation and plagiarism.

Infuse ethics – 4 brief strategies:

1. Talk and listen to teens. Discover what they think about these issues and shape ethical lessons and examples accordingly. Create a Privacy Policy and discuss with them how organizations are giving their details to others.

2. Ensure ethics are integrated into all literacy related educational activities. Specifically address ethical questions related to each learning outcome. Add ethical components to IT lessons.

3. Reach out to teens through technology. Create ways to teach ethics through the active use of Facebook, Wikipedia and other web 2 technologies.

4. Turn all information interactions into ethical teaching moments (ex. Cheat codes in gaming, YouTube and copyright, Google and bias, free speech and censorship).

Challenges ahead:

Obtain ethical training for all staff. Make ethical teaching interesting and not nagging or preachy. Trust that teens/users can make the right decisions if they are given the right tools.

6. Autism from the Inside OutThe speaker at this session was Dr. Ricki Robinson, a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics. The talk centered on Dr. Robinson’s work with children with autism and the medical aspects of Autism.

This was a fascinating session. I feel I now have a better understanding of the medical issues surrounding autism and how the brain works.

7. WikipediaSpeakers: Paul Kobasa – Editor in Chief of World Book and Debra Hoffman Broome Library California State

Paul Kobasa – History of the Encyclopaedia, how it works and Wikipedia’s first 10 years:

10 years on from its inception, Wikipedia is the most consulted reference source now and possible ever. It has been chosen by many as the reference source of choice.

What criteria for evaluating reference sources still apply?

- Authoritative

- Reputable

- Comprehensive

- Up to date

- Written without bias

- Easy to use

- Reference to other sources

- Well illustrated

And now?

- Depth of detail

- Reading age

- Relevance to topic question

How much information is enough?

At what point does too much information become useless? 500 words may be just right but 4000 will be too much and won’t gain you anymore knowledge.

Uniformity of information – the same kind of information and layout each time.

History of the Encyclopedia:

The Encyclopedia as a social movement has a long history dating back to the 1700s.

632 – The First Western Encyclopedia – Etymologiarum Libri by Isidore of Seville

1704 – The German Dictionary of Government and News (many contributors)

1768 – Encyclopaedia Britannica

Wikipedia: The First 10 Years

Wikipedia is our reference reality. It’s quick, easy to use and cross curricular. It is a global project with millions of sharers, adders and editors. It has roughly 17 million articles none of which are ever considered complete.

Wikipedia is built on the social principles of shared enterprise and the importance of collaboration. It assumes a ‘good faith’ policy that people want to add positively to the site. But it is also realistic about the realities of the net and that not everyone will add positively. That is where the editors come in.

The point of Wikipedia is to make information available in pursuit of social education.

Wikipedia is:

- Free and reusable

- Neutral – its content needs to reliable and good for everyone no matter what language.

- Unoriginal – there is no original research on Wikipedia, just a collection of information and sources of information from other places.

- Appropriate in scope

- Verifiable – it provides references, further reading and links to sources

- Unfinished – it is constantly being updated and changed as new information is added

Debra Hoffman – Using Wikipedia as a teaching tool

Example of method of teaching students about how to evaluate sources:

Ask students to conduct research on an author using book resources and encyclopedias.

When they have done this, ask them to look at the Wikipedia article about the author and ask them to evaluate the material and the sources that are listed.

Ask them to look at:

- Accuracy

- Authority – source materials, page creator

- Scope

- Intent – why was it written? Is there an angle/slant/bias?

When the students have done this get them to discuss in groups what they think about the article based on their findings.

(EMMA SIDE NOTE:

There are many people who believe that Wikipedia is not a reliable source for information. There have been many studies done including one from the scientific magazine Nature, in 2005, which said that the Wikipedia scientific articles came close to the level of accuracy in Encyclopedia Britannica and had a similar rate of serious errors. Wikipedia is closely monitored and incorrect information is quickly removed or altered. Wikipedia has hundreds of editors. Because the site is open source and anyone can add, this means that on the whole people are wary of the information and do check with other sources to verify the information. This is standard good practice in research anyway. Used correctly and cited properly Wikipedia can be a useful and reliable source for information.)

8. Do K-12 Libraries need books? (What kind of books does your Library need?)
Speakers: Head Librarian from Cushing Academy and Alison Ernst, Consultant on youth services at school and public Libraries.

Head Librarian from Cushing Academy:

Cushing Academy – one of many schools that has removed almost all paper based books from their Library (they have kept art books and poetry). They still retain paper based books in their classrooms so in fact the school itself has not gone completely digital.

Why did they do this?

The cost of maintaining the print collection was incredibly high compared to changing over to e-resources. The switch to mostly digital texts allowed them to put the money into increasing the number of Library Staff and focusing on promoting information literacy.

The Librarian at Cushing says that he sees his Library as having two roles:

1. Supporting research through the use of laptops and tablets

2. Supporting reading through the use of e-readers

He feels that this sponsors trans-literacy.

(EMMA SIDE NOTE: This is the main focus of all libraries except that they do it through the use of various formats and research tools. I worry that using only digital tools will stop them from learning how to use other sources and formats and may impede their progress either at university or at work. Not everything is digital.)

What problems arise from having a print collection?:

1. Limited space

2. Theft/loss recovery – time and money

3. Duplication of content can often be enormous (class sets etc).

(EMMA SIDE NOTE: What problems arise from having e-resources?

1. Prohibitive cost of purchasing e-readers, tablets and laptops and the cost of repairs, theft and loss.

2. The cost of purchasing e-resources can be incredibly high

3. Formats – not all are compatible with all e-readers, tablets and laptops

4. Home access for students without internet or who have capped download limits)

Questions he asks us to think about:

1. Does deep reading require paper?

2. Are librarians taking full advantage of the digitization of text?

3. Is your physical library conducive to information sharing, group collaboration and teaching?

Alison Ernst:

You need to deconstruct the question

In elementary school libraries our students are:

- Learning to read

- Learning the basics of information literacy

In middle school libraries our students are:

- Continuing to hone their reading skills

- Improving and increasing their research skills

In high school/secondary school libraries our students are:

- Expected to be fluent readers of text

- Expected to have a high standard of skills in research and presentation

Books:

Assumption that we are talking about print volumes but are we?

What do books look like at different levels:

- Picture books

- Novels

- Nonfiction

- Reference

Formats:

- Print

- Audio

- electronic/digital

For Inspiration see ALA

For the last week and a bit I've been filling my head with all sorts of wonderful things at the ALA Conference in New Orleans. The people that I met there, the talks and programs that I attended and the inspiring things that I heard have made me feel revived. I really can't explain just how incredible it was. Though I had to pay for the flights and the conference myself I would say that apart from my MSc, it was the best investment that I've ever made. In three days I learnt more than I have in the last two years of training courses with CILIP.

When it comes to our profession, the ALA is definitely where it's at. I have never met people like the members of the ALA that I met in New Orleans. The USA is experiencing the same cut backs, layoffs and closures as us but they are fighting as a whole, with the ALA leading the charge to show people and the government just how important Libraries and Librarians are to society. The Librarians that I met were far from gloomy about the future. Granted things are bad but they all have hope that things will get better. For the first time in a long time I felt like I had hope again. CILIP could learn a lot from what they are doing in the USA.

I'm still reeling from information overload but once I've had time to sit down and debrief I will write more. I've got all sorts of ideas for new things to do at work and ways to improve my library.

To the ALA - thank you. I feel like a new Librarian :)

Library expansion/refurbishment

If you've been reading my posts for the last few months you may remember me mentioning that there were plans being drawn up to extend my Library. I wasn't too happy with the plans as they didn't really improve the Library and they were going to make some of the problems that we have worse. Luckily, I found out today that there won't be any money available for the expansion which was a relief. I think that we can do a lot with the space without extending it and my boss agrees. There is one final meeting of the Board of Governors next week to decide what money will be spent and where and after that my boss and I are going to sit down and work out how we can improve the Library without making structural changes. I've got a quite a few ideas and so have my staff so I think we can come up with something really nice.

 

It really is a big relief as I really didn't want to pack up 30,000 books, DVDs and other resources again (for the third time in 2 yrs)! Also it means that when I go to New Orleans I won't be worrying about what they're doing to the place while I'm not there. I won't say I'm precious about the Library but they have a habit of saying yes to what I want and then doing something different when my back is turned.

 

So lots to think about and I thought I would ask anyone who was reading this if they had any good suggestions about places to look for ideas, suppliers etc. If you do please post in the comments section below and I'll up date you later in the summer with what is being done.

CoFHE LASEC talk, crazy work schedule and new hours!

Well hello! Over a month since I last wrote. Doesn't seem like that long thank goodness. This term has just flown by and I can't say that makes me sad. Christmas is almost upon us and I am quite relieved. Time to relax and reflect.

On Friday I gave my talk to the CoFHE LASEC group about Untangling Web 2.0 and using Web 2 tools to market my service. I think that it went very well and the people who were there seemed to think it was good so YAY! I really wasn't very nervous which is rare for me. I'm usually a seething bundle of nerves. I met some rather lovely people, had tea and biscuits and got to listen to another talk given by Anna Knox from UEL on Using Customer Feedback to Market the Library. It was really interesting and I got a lot of ideas from it. Though we work in very different environments the same techniques can work in both. I shall have to make some time over Christmas to go back and think more on what she said.

If you would like to see some of the tweets from the day click HERE! The lovely Helen was our tweeter for the day. Hmmm I wonder if that's the right word....

I was hoping that the last few weeks at work would be quiet and things would start to wind down but no such luck! Last week was manic with the Principals interviews, my yearly appraisal and trying to work out how we are going to replace one of my staff who has decided to retire at the end of term. It was and wasn't a surprise as she's been talking about it for ages but it has made things difficult because we need to advertise, interview and appoint before the holidays! That's only two weeks away now! I think come January we will be very short staffed. Oh well. These things are sent to test us I suppose. I'm certainly looking forward to the process as it means I have to go into manager mode and I don't do that very often.

I start my new reduced hours next week. I had almost forgotten about it as it took so long to organise. I asked about it in September and two months later I'm just about to start them. I had hoped that the process would be faster than that but I guess I expected too much. I'm going to try to get the module I'm working on done by the end of January and then the next one done by the end of April. My tutor has been great and has postdated some time out for me. That hasn't solved any of my problems but it has taken a bit of the pressure off.

Right! Best get back to work! TTFN!